TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Marie Clear writes of the virtues of PrintScreen plus MSPaint for screen
captures in Windows. I agree, plus a couple of refinements:
1) Alt-PrintScreen captures only the current window, which makes the image
easier to manipulate.
2) Blue Sky Software (800/718-4408; international 619-459-6365) includes
with RoboHelp an excellent screen capture utility which accepts the bitmap
you capture via PrintScreen or Alt-PrintScreen. It includes easy access to
the Windows Paint program, for any editing you need to do. Its outstanding
virtue from my perspective is that it automatically crops the BMP file to be
the exact size of the image you are capturing...and it allows you to select
any portion of the image to be the BMP file. No missing edges, no bands of
white space. This is especially helpful when you are linking to the BMP
files rather than pasting them directly into your documents. (Linking is
the only way to get the graphics into a Help file; and it keeps the file
size down in any kind of file.)
I do not work for Blue Sky, nor have I any other affiliation with them than
using and liking some of their products.
K Watkins
kwatkins -at- quickpen -dot- com
speaking for myself, not my employers
